NERD DETOUR! Disney Star Wars

May as well post about this here. First let me remark that I like Star Wars - from a distance. Loved it as a kid, buried myself in the video games and Lego sets and extended universe books, still find the original trilogy to be fantastic and could watch it infinite times, and give at least a passing look at any game tie-ins (Rogue Squadrons I & II and the Dark Forces / Jedi Knight games are favorites). But these days I don't really keep up with it. I liked the prequels when I was 12 but can't stand them now, and don't follow Clone Wars or care for the ongoing BioWare subseries.

Today Disney bought the rights and announced they'd be continuing the film series. Fans are upset. My question is: why? If you loved the prequels and the continuous edits to the originals (Special Edition et al.), okay, I get it. I see why you would want George Lucas to retain control - you can stop reading now. Otherwise, where were you expecting Star Wars to go that this detours? If you despise the prequels like I do, you certainly didn't want Lucas making any more films, unless he was going to bring in completely new creative talent and let go of the reigns. Which is exactly what Disney will be doing.

There are essentially three possible futures for the series.
A.) Lucas keeps making movies
B.) Someone else keeps making movies
C.) No more movies get made
Even if it was A.), Lucas would eventually die and it would become B.) or C.). Me personally, I would've been happiest if it had ended in 1983 after Return of the Jedi, but I also don't care that much what came/comes afterward, because it couldn't/can't actively ruin what are already three good movies (although, surprisingly, Lucas DID find many ways to ruin those three with his interminable edits). More die-hard fans than myself might actually care about the 'image' of the franchise or crave more cinematic content. It's those people who should be thrilled by this announcement.

If there are going to be more movies, who would you choose to make them? The man who was perfectly okay with Natalie Portman being a lead, or literally anyone else in the world. Lucas doesn't have a film-making bone left in his body, if he ever did. He got his second chance, and it blew. We can guess that if he made any more movies, they'd be just as bad. So let someone else give it a go.

Disney has proven (with their Marvel and Pixar properties, if nothing else) that they have the resources, talent, and quality control to make at least consistently decent movies. You can argue all you want about The Avengers, Toy Story 3, and their other recent output, but the fact is, most people seem to like it. A lot. So what reason is there to expect Star Wars Episode VII+ will suck?

And even if it does suck, does it matter? Toss it into the bin with Episodes I-III and move on with your lives, presumably as professional Storm Trooper cosplayers.